Thompson wants Congress to lead by example

North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson introduced legislation last week that would require Congress to responsibly recycle its e-waste.

Co-authored by representatives Gene Green, D-TX, Mary Bono Mack, R-CA, and Brian Bilbray, R-CA, House Resolution 938 aims to make sure that the outdated electronic equipment discarded by members of Congress and their staffs ends up recycled, and not in landfills or incinerators.

"Each year, we scrap 400 million units of electronics in the U.S.," Thompson said in a press release. "Each piece of e-waste can be incredibly harmful to the environment. CRT monitors and TVs contain between four to eight pounds of lead. As they break down in a landfill, they can leach toxic chemicals into groundwater.

"Flat screen monitors and TVs pose different dangers: They use mercury to light their screens," Thompson continued. "As little as one gram of mercury can contaminate a 20-acre lake and make the fish unsafe to eat. Congress should lead by example and dispose of e-waste responsibly."

Thompson's bill would require Congress to deal with its e-waste only using recyclers certified to the new e-Stewards standard, the highest in the industry.

"In choosing to work only with certified e-Stewards, Congress is saying they want to be sure their old computers and other electronic products don't end up being exported to developing nations, or sent to prison recycling shops," said Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, in a press release.

According to a press release from the nonprofit www.commondreams.org, only 50 to 80 percent of e-waste picked up by recyclers is actually recycled. The other 20 to 50 percent, according to the organization, is exported to developing nations where it is handled in crude ways, often exposing workers and communities to toxic materials.

"As consumers of electronic equipment, we are all faced with the real choice of becoming part of the e-waste problem or being part of the solution," said Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, in a press release. "Congress, informed by the horrific pictures of Chinese and African children wandering through heaps of toxic e-waste from the U.S., has recognized this choice as a principled and practical one. This bipartisan resolution to use only e-Steward Recyclers, shows Congress wants to be part of the solution."

According to the release from Thompson's office, only 11 percent of the country's e-waste is currently being recycled. The release also notes dumping e-waste in foreign nations to be a problem, pointing to a 71 percent rate of lead poisoning in children in Guiyu, China, where many electronic products are processed for recycling.